


after the thaw

by SkyRose



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, Post-Frozen (2013)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 07:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20421926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyRose/pseuds/SkyRose
Summary: Elsa visits Princess Hans in the dungeons.





	after the thaw

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RoseWithAllHerThorns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseWithAllHerThorns/gifts).

Hans perked up at the sound of the locks shifting. The cell door opened to reveal Queen Elsa and her icy gown. Her gaze was fierce as she looked down at Hans.

“Princess Hans of the Southern Isles, I am here to inform you that a ship will be arriving tomorrow morning to return you home,” Elsa explained from where she stood in the doorway.

Hans gawked at the queen. “You aren’t executing me?” she asked in disbelief. She had been so sure she would be hanged by noon. Most kingdoms don’t take attempted murders of their monarchs kindly.

“No. It will be punishment enough that you are sent home and your wrongdoings are spread to all neighboring kingdoms,” Elsa replied. 

Hans kept silently staring. All of her plans would have worked perfectly if it wasn’t for Elsa. Anna had been so easy to fool. Had she been queen, Hans could have easily married her and left it at that. But there was Elsa. 

Elsa had everything Hans wanted. A kingdom to rule and no one to take orders from. She had only one sister and no brothers, and Anna adored her. Everything about Elsa was cold, raw power. Her eyes, her magic hands, her stern voice. 

Hans was so used to jealousy. She felt it every single day of her life growing up. What she felt for Elsa was beyond jealousy. Jealousy was childish and simple-minded. Her feelings for Elsa were anything but.

Elsa was beautiful, that was plain to see. Hans had heard the rumors of the beauty of the crown princess locked away in Arendelle’s castle. When she finally saw her, she learned how true the rumors were.

And now, with her hair down in a loose braid and tight dress, Elsa was radiant. 

Hans casted her eyes down to the cobblestone floor. She breathed, “Thank you.”

Elsa considered the words a few long moments before replying, “You are not welcome back here.”

“Of course.”

Elsa turned, her cape sparkling behind her as she moved to leave. Hans wasn’t done yet. If this would be her last time seeing the Ice Queen, she would make the most of it.

“What’s it like?” she asked in a rush, pulling on the chains that bound her wrists.

Elsa twisted her head around, her expression annoyed. “Pardon?”

“Your powers,” Hans clarified.

“Terrifying,” Elsa answered. “And thrilling. Everything at once.”

Hans watched as Elsa’s delicate hand soothed a wayward strand of white hair into place. “You could take over any rival kingdom, if you wanted to. You could crush any enemy.”

Elsa’s hand clenched and she took a step forward. “I could.”

Hans smiled. “But you won’t.”

“Of course not,” Elsa agreed, although her tone was snappy and her mouth turned down into a frown.

“Did you ever wonder if Anna would have made a better queen?” Hans asked next, seeing how far the queen would allow her interrogations to go.

“Yes,” Elsa admitted easily. “Many times.”

Hans grimaced. Her twelve older brothers would never have dreamed up such imaginations of their little sister as queen.

“However, she’s proven herself unworthy for the throne. Falling for a princess from a tiny isle kingdom and no true intentions,” Hans pointed out, fondly remembering when she and the younger princess had danced through the halls of the Arendelle castle.

“Speak ill of my sister again and see where that leads you,” Elsa threatened. 

“With an icicle through my heart?”

“Perhaps.”

Hans let her lips stretch into another grin. “That would be your greatest act of mercy.”

Elsa’s hand clenched again. “You want to die?”

“No,” Hans confessed. “But I do not want to go home. You have no idea what I will face.”

Elsa seemed to consider the notion, although it was hard to tell. Elsa always had a thoughtful expression, always carefully considered her next words. It was maddening to Hans. Anna spoke freely and openly, making this all so much easier. 

“I hope you do not consider yourself clever for what you did to Anna,” Elsa said, suddenly changing the subject. “She was lonely. If she didn’t fall for you, it would have been the next princess or prince to speak to her.”

“And you are not lonely?”

Elsa froze over, as if she had built an ice wall between them. “You have a lot of nerve to…” Elsa sighed. “I’m not here to talk about myself.”

“You answered my other questions.”

“Shut up!” Elsa demanded. “Don’t talk your way into any more trouble.” She made her way to the door.

Hans said the first thing that popped into her brain. “So you aren’t going to kiss me?”

There was no explanation for the outburst. Hans couldn’t rationalize it in concrete evidence or theory or anything of substance. But, she could swear Elsa looked at her the same way Anna had at the party. Curiosity and desire and awe. Anna had been in awe that a pretty princess from a faraway kingdom paid any mind to her.

Elsa was in awe that someone so noble could commit such atrocious acts.

Still, that was awe.

Elsa’s hand was on the door, gripping it as ice crystals crawled along the metal. It was an equally pleasant and terrifying sight. Hans knew Elsa’s careful control was finite, it would break eventually. Arendelle would be doomed to winter again and again and again until the Ice Queen fell.

“Do not treat my mercy lightly,” Elsa said, barely turning to look at Hans before she left. The door clanged behind her.

Hans sat in chains in the Arendelle dungeons, where she’d much rather stay and rot than face the Southern Isles again.

Maybe the Queen would visit her again, prior to shipping the young princess home. Hans had made it unlikely but…

Queen Elsa’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, desire, and awe.

Hans peaked through the rusted bars out the seas of Arendelle. They sparkled too. 

Hans remembered the grand ice castle Elsa had built when she ran away. That had sparkled too. It sparkled unlike anything Hans had ever seen.

Elsa did too.


End file.
